Critical Essay by William Allen White

SOURCE: “The Boy Orator of the Platte,” in Masks in a Pageant, The Macmillan Company, 1928, pp. 233-79.

In the following essay, White traces Bryan's entire career, including his religious convictions.

The Boy Orator of the Platte

William Jennings Bryan was a dramatic and powerful figure in American politics from 1896, when he became the Democratic presidential candidate, until 1925, when he died. His place in history will be comparable to that of Blaine or Clay; each led America for a generation. Both Clay and Blaine, striving for the Presidency, dramatized important causes. Bryan, in seeking the high office, often had the smoke of revolution in his garments; a revolution which he led for a time but never entirely understood. It is a long span of years from the nomination of Samuel J. Tilden, which Bryan saw...